For for my job doing environmental consulting, legal liability is a forethought with every product we put out. I have a project right now that requires photo documentation of a construction site. Our new Canon point-and-shoot cameras apparently do not allow you to put a date stamp on the photo, which is how we have typically done things in order to "prove" when a photo was taken.

However, my boss, a self-admitted technophobe, does not understand the benefits of the EXIF data nor the lack of credibility of date stamps. I have on rare occasions had to Photoshop out the date stamp and replace it with a different date because the camera's time was set on the wrong 12 hour time. So I have tried to explain how easy it is to change the date on the photo, but that the EXIF data stays with the photo even if it is manipulated. If a regulatory agency doubted the authenticity of our photos, I figured that we could just send them the original photo and they can look at the EXIF data.

So my question to you is, how easy is it to change the EXIF data? I personally have no idea how to do that, and I suspect that many other people who know less about photo editing would be as equally clueless. I am going to assume that the EXIF info is not as credible as I think it is, but would you agree that it is more credible than a date stamp?
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Virginia Herping
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"The irrational fear of snakes is the only excuse a grown man has... to act like a complete sissy" - Colchicine

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